Fire extinguishing apparatus



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w. TA PE Filed March 18, 1938 SIC FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS July 29, 1941.

Patented July 29, 1941 FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS Wilhelm Tappe, Bucharest, Rumam'a Application March 18, 1938, Serial No. 196,604 In Germany May 31, 1937 1 Claim. o1. 169-4). M.

The invention relates to fire extinguishing apparatus. In the case of a fire the main object is to get as close as possibl to the seat of the fire, in order that the fire can be most effectively fought with suitable means at its source. However, in many cases the seat of the fire is so difficult of access that to reach it in the desired manner presents almost insuperable difiiculties. Moreover, the heat radiated in cases of fire presents an additional difiiculty which sometimes makes it impossible to remove the obstacles. This is especially the case in the petroleum industry in which quantities of oil are accommodated in tanks, refineries and apparatus appertaining thereto and represent a substance of great value, the whole of which is jeopardized by the fire, and in which pipelines and steel structure surrounding the tanks and refining plants often cause great difiiculties in approaching near enough to the seat of the fire with a portable extinguishing apparatus to enable the fire to be fought effectively.

The main object of the present invention is to provide apparatus to meet such circumstances and which will enable such obstacles to be overcome in such a manner that despite the nearness of the seat of the fire and the heat it develops a path is cleared for th extinguishing apparatus which is to be used against it.

An identical defect in all known extinguishing measures consists further in that, again taking an oil plant as an example, there is no possibility of extinguishing an oil tank when it has caught fire, because the place of explosion in the roof from which the flames pour is usually so unfavourably placed that an extinguishing apparatus can not be applied there. The enormous quantities of smoke developed and the terrific heat also precluded the tank roof being opened at another accessible spot through which the extinguishing medium can be poured onto the oil burning in the interior of the tank, without exposing human lifeto danger.

It is true that a tank is provided with valves and pipelines by means of which it is possible to draw off the contents of the tank and this is often done when tanks catch fire. However, owing to the explosion which usually occurs in such cases, it may well happen that either the valves cannot be reached owing to collapsed steel structures or they have been damaged by the explosion, or again that they are so near to the seat of the fire that they can no longer be reached or operated for opening or closing. Hitherto there was no possibility of saving the contents of the tank in these circumstances or of trying in this way to extinguish the fire. The only thing to do therefore is to find a way of opening and/or closing the valves from a distance When they cannot otherwise be reached, or

if this also fails, of'holing the tank and draining off the contents.

Consequently a further object of the invention is to use the known fire extinguishing pipe which I hitherto was used merely as a conveying device for the extinguishing medium also for carrying out the above mentioned operations, by providing a working tool which can be attached to the front end of the pipe and to which motive force can be transmitted through the interior of the pipe. It is of course a condition that this pipe be sufficiently long to allow of these Working operations being controlled at a certain practicable distance from the seat of the fire.

In order to be able to carry out the working steps mentioned, circumstances may require the process to be either a cutting, drilling, boring or turning process, so that the Working tool at the front end of the fire extinguishing pipe must be adaptable to any one of these processes, and the same applies to the motive force which is passed through the interior of the pipe to the tool. For instance, the front end of the extinguisher pipe can accommodate a motor driven hydraulically or by compressed air, the driven shaft of which a rotatable tool by means of which for example the'intended drilling, boring, cutting or turning process can be carried out. In this case a fluid; preferably water, steam, air or gas under suitable pressure is used as motive power for the motor.

Now, this working device can be combined with the extinguisher pipe in such a way that'after for example a hole has been made in the roof of the tank, the motor is cut out whereupon the extinguishing medium, for example 'foam or gas is immediately passed through the pipe and poured onto the oil burning inside the tank through the previously made' hole. In order to effect this structural combination the motor is encased in a tubular jacket the diameter of which is smaller than that of the hole made by the tool; further, a valve reacting to high pressure is provided for separating the motor from the pipeline and further valves are provided reacting to lower pressures, for clearing the jacket space so that the extinguishing medium which rushes in can pass through it. I

The controlling of the cutting apparatus is eifected by means of moving the fire extinguishing pipe about during the cutting,

The water which for example. is used for operating the motor and which is conveyed for this purpose to the front end ofthe pipe and which after passing through the passages of the hydraulic motor ,is allowed to fiow freely out into the open cansimultaneously' be made to serve the purpose of cooling the working tool. Also where tools are used which do not require water for their operation it may sometimes be advantageous to pass water through the inside of the pipe during the working of the tool for the purpose of cooling the said tools.

A practical embodiment of the invention is shown by way of example in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of the pipe assembly having at the upper end a tool to which rotary motion can be imparted. The pipe assembly is represented, without thereby limiting the invention to this specific form, as a portable and upwardly and telescopically extensible extinguishing pipe which can be slewed by means of a turntable.

Fig. 2 illustrates in axial section a driving motor which can be attached to the front end of the extinguishing pipe, in combination. with extinguishing means.

Fig. 1, which is of. course merely diagrammatic shows a fire extinguishing, pipewhich in this case consists of. a transportable pipe which can be upwardly and, telescopically extended, and slewed by means of a turntable, the first pipe section 3 of which together with'the supporting frame 2 which is rigidly connected. to. the lower end of the pipe section, 3,. and a. rigid rod, l which connects the free end of the pipe section 3- to. the supporting frame 2, forms a triangular supportingistructurei The further pipe. sections 4 and 5 can be retracted. inside the-pipe section 3 from the front end in, the manner of atelescope. The front end of the pipe section 5 has attached to it by means of flanges av bent piece 6, which in turn carries, by means of flanges, a driving motor to the driven shaftof which the working tool 8 is attached to a. spindle mounted on, the said driven shaft.

By means of spindles 9 which act upon the upper end of the supporting frame and which are mounted, slewable to a certain extent, upon the rear end of the turntable Hi, this pipe assembly can be pivoted around the fulcrum point II to. the desired degree of inclination. The motor I which is shown on a larger scale in Fig. 2 can be of any desired design, and can. be driven hydraulically, for example by water, or by steam, air or gas, or if desired electrically. Inv the example shownwhich consists of, a hydraulic motor two outside worm spindles I2, l2, fitted with screw threads, drive a worm shaft l3 which extends at the front to a spindle upon which is carried the necessary. working tool, 8; which as shown in this illustration can be for example a cutter the edges of which are. rounded or taper towards the rear. The housing l5 enclosing the rear portion of this motor is connected to the bent piece 6 by means of a flanged. joint. The central opening provided in the motor fiange corresponds to the internal diameter of the bent piece. If by means of a hosepipe line 3| extending through the pipes 3, 4, 5 to the front end, a liquid, for example water, is admitted under pressure, the latter flows through the bent piece'into the chamber I6 preceding the hydraulic motor 1, forces its way through the thread of the outer spindles l2, |-2' imparting a rotary movement to these spindles and thereby driving the internal spindle shaft l3 and thus also the tool 8. After transmitting its energy to the spindles, the liquidpasses out through drain openings in the motor housing and thus-also cools-the rotating tool. In order to obtain close contact between the tool andLthesurface to be worked, the connection between the bent. piece andlor the frontpipe sec tion of the motor can be effected by means of an elastic intermediate member, such as a flexible pipe, hollow joint, or the like.

Now, it may be desirable, after the tool 8 has cut an opening in the tank roof to follow this step by introducing the extinguishing medium through the said hole. To do this, the motor casing is enclosed in a tubular housing l8 which at the rear end has its edges bent inwardly and clamped between the flanges on the motor housing and bent piece, the front end of the said housing |8 being preferably slightly tapered inwardly contracted. The chamber l6 of the motor casing is provided at the end nearest to the bent piece 6 with a valve 20 under spring pressure, the seating being towards the bent piece and the valve. 21]- being pressed back against the spring pressure in the direction of the motor under the action of the pressure of the fluid coming from the bent piece 6. There are also provided valves adjusted to lower pressure 2|, 2| for example in quadruplicate, which are arranged at an angle relatively to the chamber.

Now, if'water is first conveyed to the bent piece under a pressure of 8-10 atm. by means of the hosepipe passing through the pipe assembly, this Water forces back the valves 2|, 2| so that they close the openings which they cover. On the contrary the high pressure valve 20 will be lifted fromits seating so that the water penetrates into the chamber l6 and thence to the motor. When the hole has been cut in the tank roof, and this can be done in a few minutes, the supply of water under pressure is cut off and the extinguishing medium is then passed through the hosepipe 3| to the bent piece 6. This extinguishing medium reaches the bent piece 6 at a far lower pressure (about 1 atm.) and is incapable of closing the valves 2|, 2|, so that the said mediumv passes through the openings which these valves leave uncovered, into the chamber enclosed by the tubular jacket I8 and thence onto the seat of, the fire through the front opening in the said jacket. The valve 20 closes onto its seating under spring pressure as soon as the supply of water .under pressurev ceases.

Obviously, the front, innermost pipe section can consist. of several individual pipes connected to one another and arranged in a bundle. In this case it is sometimes only necessary to pass the motive force for the working tools described through one of these. connected pipe sections, so that water or any other extinguishing or cooling medium can: then be simultaneously conveyed through one or all of the other pipe sections for cooling the working tool.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

An apparatus for use in connection with fires, comprising the; combination of an extensible fire extinguishing pipe, a motor mounted on said pipe andactuated by fiuidpassing through the pipe; a rotary tool driven by said motor, a jacket surrounding said motor in spaced relation thereto and having an open end of smaller width than that of the rotary tool, aspring-loaded valve for'shutting off the motor from the extinguishing pipe mounted in the motor casing, and further spring-loaded valves under a lower pressure also mounted in the motor casing and adapted to permit fire extinguishing medium to pass through the jacket.

WILHELM TAPPE. 

